Enhanced Proliferation of H-1 Virus in Livers of Rats Infected with Cysticercus fasciolaris

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 121; no. 6; pp. 648 - 652
• Main Authors: Kilham, Lawrence, Margolis, George, Colby, Emerson D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The University of Chicago Press 01.06.1970; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Animals; Culture Techniques; Cysticerci; Cysticercosis - microbiology; Cysticercosis - pathology; Cysts; Female; Hepatocytes; Inclusion Bodies, Viral; Infections; Inoculation; Larva; Liver; Liver - microbiology; Liver Diseases, Parasitic - microbiology; Liver Diseases, Parasitic - pathology; Male; Oncogenic Viruses - growth & development; Oncogenic Viruses - isolation & purification; Original Articles; Parasites; Rats; Spleen - microbiology; Taenia; Titration; Virus Diseases - pathology; Viruses; Viruses, Unclassified - growth & development; Viruses, Unclassified - isolation & purification
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/121.6.648

The present experiments were based on the hypothesis that parvoviruses have a special affinity for replicating cells wherever these may occur in a susceptible host and are thus able to benefit from concurrent infections with other parasites, if such infections induce damage to and repair of tissues. The model consisted of hepatic infections in rats induced with Cysticercus jasciolaris, followed in 2 weeks by inoculations of H-1 virus, after cysts had become established. Two lines of evidence indicated that the cysticerci promoted viral proliferation: (1) many viral inclusions were present in areas of regeneration of hepatic cells in the doubly infected rats, and (2) the animals infected twice had relatively high titers of recoverable virus in comparison with control animals that received virus alone. However, 1 control rat was exceptional. It was the only one in the entire series that had hepatic granulomas of unknown origin, and thus it formed something of an unplanned, natural experiment, supporting an impression that the promoting action of the cysticerci on the H-1 virus, like that of partial hepatectomies performed in previous investigations, was nonspecific. Implications of these findings for viral pathogenesis and survival are discussed.